Mixing-machine.



B. G. CUMMINGS.

MIXING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20, 1913.

Patented May 12, 191i EDGAR C. CUMMINGS, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

MIXING-MACHINE.

oaegoes.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR C. CUMMINGS, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of lVaterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Mixing-viachines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mixing-machines, and the objectof my improvement is to provide a novel and efiicient type ofmixing-blades for the machine, and also to improve the machine so as topermit the mixing-blades to be actuated continuously, while allowing thematerials after being mixed to be discharged in batches or determinedquantities. This object I have accomplished by the means which arehereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalmedial section taken on the line ab of Fig. 2, of my saidmixing-machine. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of said machine, with partssectioned and broken away. Fig. 3 is an edge elevation of one of mymultivane mixingblades, and Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the same.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout theseveral views.

My mixing-machine comprises a casing 9 supported on base-blocks 26. Itsopen top has an outwardly-flared edge 14, and like swing-bottom plates11 and 12 are hinged at 13 along the meeting longitudinal angles ofsaidpart 1% and the casing 9, the part 1% with said plates serving, when thelatter are drawn up to contact along their inner longitudinal edges, asa hopper in which to deposit quantities of unmixed materials prior tomixing. medially longitudinally through said casing with its ends seatedin bearings 18 and 19, one end of the shaft without the casing having acrank 17 with projecting handle, and a hinged drop-piece 20 serves toengage said handle to hold it in an adjusted position to hold it frommovement as desired. Chains 15 are connected between said shaft and theplates 11 and 12, and are rolled upon or from said shaft when it isrotated in either direction to elevate or drop said plates.

The numerals 7 and 8 denote bearings on Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 20, 1913.

A rotatable shaft 16 is located Patented May 12, 1914. Serial No.755,664.

the opposite ends of said casing over alined bearing-openings therein,and a longitudinal shaft 1, square in cross-section is locatedlongitudinally within said casing, said shaft having covering sections6, alined thereover, of cylindrical form exteriorly, and extendinginto-said bearings to rotate therein. Between the sections or sectionalsleeves 6 are located the mixing-blades 3, each blade having a squarecentral or axial opening 2 whereby it may be non-rotatably mounted onthe shaft 1.

The sleeves 6 clamp the blades 3 upon said shaft 1 against longitudinalmovements thereon, but both the sleeves and the blades are removablefrom the shaft when desired to disassemble the machine for repairs. Uponthe right-hand outer extremity of the shaft 1 and extending into thebearing 8 is the elongated hub 37 of a gear-wheel 23, the latterenmeshed with a pinion 24: on a short stub-shaft supported in aprojecting part of the bearing-body 8 (not shown). A belt-wheel mountedon said shaft 38 serves to transmit power from some source of power notshown.

The mixing-blades 3 including their radial vanes are of relatively largediameter, and the bottom part of the casing is made semicylindrical, andspaced away therefrom a suitable distance. The bottom of the casing isin two parts, a fixed integral part 39 which is carried a little beyondthe medial longitudinal line of the bottom, and a hinged laterallyswinging part 27, hung upon a shaft 31 at the side of the casing toswing laterally over an inclined delivery plate 28 thereunder, the upperlongitudinal edge of the latter being secured under the delivery edge ofthe fixed bottom part 39. In order to open or swing outwardly the saidhinged part 27, and hold it either open or closed, I have adopted thefollowing-described means for the purpose.

Bearings 33 are secured on the outside of said casing and seat alongitudinal shaft 31 on which is hung the outturned upper longitudinaledge of the part 27 movably. On one end of the shaft 31 extended beyondthe end of the machine, is an integral crank 34 having a relativelyheavy weight 35 on its extremity adapted to counterbalance the weight ofthe part 27. Lever arms 30 extend fixedly from the shaft 31 and havetheir extremities pivoted to pintles 29 in lugs on the outer face of thepart 27. When the crank 3 1 is swung upwardly to the right, the rockingof the shaft 31 causes the arms 30 to swing the part 27 outwardly, andif the weighted crank is thrown far enough to the right, it will passbeyond the dead center and hold the part 27 open. When the part 27 isclosed, as shown, the weighted ball 35 serves to hold it tightly engagedwith the other fixed bottom part 39, to prevent leakage. On each side ofthe casing above the blades 3, are longitudinal slots 4:0 furnished withoutwardly projecting upwardly-inclined receiving edges or parts 21 and22, and water may be introduced through a hose 3G or other means throughsaid slots 10 into the interior of the casing below the hopperplates 11and 12, when it is the proper time to moisten the dry mixed materials.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and a, which are views of one of themixing-blades, the blade is cut or formed from a single integral. plateand has a plurality of radially-projecting mixing-vanes. The vanes arealike, and each a'no has its opposite outwardly-extending edges or partsbent at approximately rightangles to the main part of the blade,oppositely at 1 and 5 to extend in a direction parallel with the axis ofthe shaft 1. This form of vane renders it a true mixing-vane, divestedof any of the essential features of a propeller, and there is thereforeno tendency for the mixingblades 3 to propel the contents of the machinetoward one end or the other thereof. The vanes in rotating thereforeneed only be impelled to stir up and thoroughly mix the contents of themachine, the projecting parts l and 5 of the vanes beating flatly uponsuch contents and moving therethrough in a way to exercise the maximumof displacing effect thereupon. These flat parts, in moving through then11- mixed materials divide them up, carry portions of one kind ofmaterial through and mix it with the other materials, and beat up anddisturb the whole mass effectively, in a minimum time. The machine istherefore a rapid mixer. of materials have been deposited in the hopperthen dumped into the machine, and mixed dry, the shaft 1 with the mixingblades 3 being kept in continuous rotation,

When the proper amounts water may be introduced through the openings at21 and 22, and the mass further mixed to become homogeneously moistened,then the swing-gate 27 may be opened, and the contents discharged intosome receptacle over the inclined plate 28. The gate 27 is then swungback, and another batch of unmixed materials dumped into the machine.The machine is therefore at once a continuous and a batch mixer, andcombines the good features of both types.

It should be noted that the oppositely bent-over parts 4: and 5 of themixing-vanes are converged toward their outer ends, which not onlyfavors the forming of such parts from the integral blade, but also aidsin the mixing and delivery of each vane.

This machine, while primarily intended for use in mixing concretematerials, may be used to mix any other substances, and may be varied inits details of construction within wide limits, without departing fromthe essential principles of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. In a mixing-machine, a rotatable mixing-blade having a plurality ofvanes, both the blade and its vanes being set in a plane intersectingthe axis of the blade at a rightangle, each vane having itsoutwardly-directed edges bent oppositely and at approximatelyright-angles to the body of the vane, the bent-over parts beingconverged to meet at their outer ends.

2. A longitudinally extended mixing Vessel having an open top, a closurefor said open top, said vessel having a longitudinal slot extendingsubstantially the length of said vessel and located immediately belowsaid closure, and movable mixing means operatively located in the lowerportion of said ch amber longitudinally thereof and below saidlongitudinal slot.

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa, this 10th day of March, 1913.

EDGAR C. CUMMINGS.

Witnesses G'Eo. C. KENNEDY, W. H. BRUNN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of IPatents, Washington, D. C.

